Military figure, he is best remembered as a mentor for a number of upcoming military leaders such as Dwight D. Eisenhower. He is also remembered as one of the principle authors of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, but set the stage for World War II, as he predicted. Despite growing up on the family farm in Mississippi, he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy in 1894, graduating four years later with a class rank of 17 out of a class of 59. Assigned to the artillery, newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Conner was sent to Cuba for occupation duty. It was there that he met his future wife, Virginia Brandreth. Over the next 15 years, he advanced through the ranks and was soon recommended for the Army General Staff in Washington, D.C. He taught at the Army War College and later served with the Third Infantry Division, where he developed artillery tactical doctrine. In 1917, under General Pershing, he was appointed as a member of Pershing's Operations Section, mapping the way for the arrival of troops overseas and overseeing military operations. When the war ended in November of 1918, Pershing made him his Chief of Staff, and promoted him to Brigadier General. During this time, peace treaties needed to be drawn up at the Paris Peace Conference, of which the most important was the German treaty (later called the Treaty of Versailles). Conner helped to author much of the treaty. As Pershing's Chief of Staff, he was the sole author of Pershing's End of the War Report to the President and Congress. For his service in World War I, he received a number of foreign and American decorations, including the Distinguished Service Medal and the Purple Heart. Following the war, he became Governor (a military position) of the Panama Canal Zone in 1921. It is there that he requested a young Major Dwight D. Eisenhower to become his Chief of Staff and Executive Officer, mentoring him for higher ranking responsibilities. Eisenhower would later credit Conner with educating him for his later responsibilities as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II. After the Panama tour ended, Conner was again sent to Washington, D.C. and assigned as Assistant Chief of Staff for the US Army. The next year, he was promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff, making him a Major General. In 1927 he was sent to command the entire Hawaiian Military Department, returning in 1930. He turned down President Hoover's offer of Army Chief of Staff, opting instead, to take command of the First US Army with headquarters in Boston. During the Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt offered him the job of heading the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal program to help put young men to work. He took on this task with dedication and enthusiasm. In 1936 and again, in 1938, Conner suffered a stroke which ended his military career. In 1938, he retired from active military service after serving his country for 44 years. He spent the remaining 13 years of his life visiting with family, hunting and fishing at the family retreat at Brandreth Lake in the Adirondacks. He died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. (bio by: Bernadette Loeffel - Atkins)